I feel THERION are one of the biggest "sell-out" bands ever, as I fucken LOATHE the stupid goth/rock/(??) bullshit they're making now. Maybe Count Grishnackh knew the direction this band was going to take and that's why he tried to burn down a member's house! Okay, enough of my bickering, onto the review... "Of Darkness" is one of the best death metal albums ever released, as THERION completely alienated their sound from all the other bands coming from Sweden (or even the USA for that matter) at that time. Their guitar sound is quite heavy, it reminds me of "American" death metal but much heavier. The blast beats aren't overdone, and there's even occasional keyboards to add to the already dark music. The vocals are extremely original, sounding somewhere in between black and death metal, hard to describe. My only complaints are the shitty bass sound (fortunately it's so buried in the mix there's only 2-3 times it's heard on the whole album) and the idiotic "hardcore" lyrics. Another album that's a tough one to find outside of the trading circuit...

© 2000 bathym